


A Little Bit Brave

by promisespromises



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Mass Effect 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 21:17:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4074187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/promisespromises/pseuds/promisespromises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard turns to Liara for some advice about love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Bit Brave

When Shepard ran into EDI by the souvenir shops on the Presidium Commons, she never imagined that their conversation would go like this, that she’d find herself offering anyone — let alone an unshackled AI — _relationship advice_. 

Ask Shepard to decide the fate of the galaxy, and she’d barely hesitate. But love? She didn’t know a damn thing about love. Couldn’t have picked it out of a lineup… not before a certain turian had found his way into her life.   

And yet, inexplicably, she heard herself say, “No one ever fell in love without being a little bit brave.”

EDI listened to her advice, seemed to take it to heart as quickly and easily as she took to battlefield commands. Shepard mumbled her way through the rest of the conversation trying not to gape at the absurdity of it all, taking the first chance she could get to bolt for safety.

 _No one ever fell in love without being a little bit brave._  

The statement wasn’t exactly true. You could fall in love without being brave at all. That part was easy. Just look at what happened to her. Damn thing snuck up on her like a sniper. Perfect headshot. _Admitting_ to that love was another matter entirely… and admitting it to the person you actually loved? Apparently that took more bravery than Shepard possessed. 

Her feet took her up two flights of stairs to Apollo’s Cafe, to a table in the back perpetually occupied by the galaxy’s new Shadow Broker. Coincidentally, one of her best friends.

“Shepard, what’s wrong?” Liara said, putting her datapad down for the first time since they’d arrived on the Citadel. Her blue brow wrinkled. “You look terrible. Are you ill? Is it the reapers?”

“I just ran into EDI. She wanted… _relationship advice_.” Nope, no matter how many times Shepard said the words, they still sounded wrong coming out of her mouth. She collapsed into a chair. 

“Is that all? By the goddess, Shepard, you had me worried.” Liara tapped the rim of her mug with a fingernail. “Am I correct in assuming your current distress has more to do with Garrus than with EDI and Joker?”

Shepard groaned and buried her face in her hands. “I’m a coward, Liara. A goddamn coward.”

“Most of the galaxy would disagree,” Liara said gently. 

“They’d be wrong.” 

Liara ordered a refill for herself and a fresh coffee for Shepard. “I thought things were going well with you two. You’ve been… _more centered_ … since Menae. If the world weren’t ending, you might even seem happy.”

“Things with Garrus are going great. They’re wonderful, actually,” Shepard said miserably. “He’s… _Garrus_.” 

“I may be the best information broker in the galaxy, Shepard, but you’re going to have to help me out here. Then what’s wrong?”

Shepard had out-talked rampaging krogan and indoctrinated ex-Spectres, and she couldn’t manage five words about what she was actually feeling. She took a deep breath. She could do this. She could. She was Commander fucking Shepard.

“When Garrus and I talked after Menae, he asked me if I still felt the same way.”

“The same way as what?” Liara asked.

Shepard shrugged. “I don’t know, exactly. We… had sex before we hit the Collector’s base.”

This did not seem to surprise Liara. Maybe there’d been an ANN report on Shepard’s bedroom activities while she’d been in lock up. 

Liara raised one perfect blue eyebrow. “It was just sex?”

“Yes. No, not for me. _Goddamn it._ ”

“It’s not a difficult question, Shepard.”

“It’s more difficult than you think.” 

“So enlighten me,” Liara said coolly. 

The waiter arrived with their drinks. Shepard wrapped both hands around her mug, wishing it were an assault rifle and that she were heading into battle. 

“When we were working with Cerberus, I… let him know I was interested,” Shepard said, trying not to remember the awkwardness of the exchange and, as always, cringing when she failed.

“Interested in what, exactly?” Liara sipped her beverage.

“You’re really going to make me say it?” 

“Yes, Shepard. I am.”

She sighed. “Fine. I had feelings for Garrus, even back then. I’m not sure when they started—“

“Oh, I have an idea about that.” Liara smiled sweetly. 

Shepard tried not to blush. They both remembered Liara’s advances on the SR-1. Advances that had gotten her precisely nowhere because Shepard had been spending most of her free time in the cargo hold. 

“So, yeah. I didn’t tell him any of that. I said I could trust him, which was true. But then I just opened my damn mouth and _propositioned_ him. It was utterly graceless, Liara. I made it about sex. Made it sound like it was just physical.”

Liara’s eyes got that faraway look Shepard had come to think of as “Shadow Broker face.”

“Don’t even think it,” Shepard said. “I had EDI erase all the recordings. No one but Garrus will ever know what I said. I’m taking the secret to my grave — assuming I’m allowed to stay there next time.”

“You’re no fun,” Liara sighed. Then she giggled. “I’m trying to imagine Garrus’s face when you did it.”

Shepard’s lips twitched into a smile. “I did catch him off-guard. But he recovered well.”

“He always does,” Liara said.  

“Mmmm.”

“So… you implied your interested was merely physical, but there was more to it than that — obviously — and you never told him.”

“Smart as ever, T’Soni,” Shepard said. “I don’t think it was just physical for him, either. I mean, we both could have found easier partners if we’d wanted.” Partners _closer to home._

“Shepard, it was fairly obvious to everyone on the SR-1 that Garrus idolized you. When you expressed interest… Well, it was never going to be just physical for him.”

Shepard sipped her coffee, feeling a little bit warm all over. Despite her discomfort, it was a relief to talk to someone about this. Especially someone who knew them both so well. Shepard could tell Garrus cared about her — she could tell every time he touched her, or looked at her, or said her name in almost any context. But it still felt good to hear someone else confirm it.  

“So when Garrus asked you if you still felt the same way, what did you say?”

Shepard had the good sense to look abashed. “That I hadn’t forgotten our time together.”

“Oh, Shepard.”

“I know. I know! And he’d just put himself out there by asking. I could see how nervous he was.  How self conscious. _Dammit_ , Liara. Why didn’t I just tell him how I felt?" That when she'd seen him on Menae, the ice around her heart — the ice that had been there since the reapers hit Earth — shattered into a thousand pieces. That her heart started to beat again, when she wasn’t sure it ever would. That when he shook her hand with both of his, the entire galaxy disappeared and she swore to god, he was the only thing she could see. Shepard put down her mug, a little too aggressively, and coffee sloshed onto the table. “I’m a goddamn coward.” 

“You’re not a coward, Shepard. You’re just in love, and you’re scared.” Liara reached for her hands, and Shepard let her take them. “You think love is fragile. That if you say the wrong thing, it will break. That if you acknowledge it, it will make you — or him — more vulnerable. Love is _not_ fragile, Shepard. Love is tough. Tougher than Archangel, and even tougher than you. You don’t have to protect love.”

Shepard stared at Liara, at her perfect face and her wide, kind eyes. What had she ever done to deserve such a friend?

“I love you, too, you know,” Shepard mumbled. 

“I do know,” Liara said, clearly trying not to laugh. “And if it were anyone but Garrus, I might be convincing you to forget about him and come visit me in my cabin more often. But you’ve always been good for him, right from the start, and I can see how good he is for you, too. You two need one another. Especially now.” 

Shepard sighed, a noise that sounded suspiciously _dreamy_. “He’s so…”

“Garrus. So you’ve said.”

“Yeah,” she agreed sheepishly.

“I’m happy for you, Shepard. Truly. I spend almost every minute of every day mired in reports about death and destruction. The numbers are mind-numbing. It’s nice to be reminded that there’s still joy to be found in the galaxy, too.” Liara tilted her head. “You told me that whenever you start to lose hope, you remember all the people you’re fighting for.”

“I don’t think I said it that eloquently.”

“You did, but that’s not the point. The point is that you should tell Garrus how you feel.”

Shepard made a face. “He probably already knows.”

“Of course he does,” Liara said, exasperated. Shepard had the good sense to feel chagrined. “But you need to say it. Not just for him, but for yourself. This isn’t some great moral quandary, Shepard. _Say the words._ Nothing bad will happen, I promise. The only result will be that the world gets a little brighter.”

Shepard’s insides twisted. All she had to do was let down one last shield. To take a risk. He’d put himself out there far more than she had, and far more often. Time for her to step the hell up. He deserved that much. And, maybe, so did she.

“I’m in love with Garrus.” It came out in a rush, as if it were all one word. But, _oh_. It felt good. _Damn_ good. Shepard tried again, going slower. “I goddamn love that ridiculous turian.” 

“See? That wasn’t so difficult.” Liara chuckled. “Just give me a little warning before you tell _him_. He’s already too sure of himself. This will make him insufferable.”

Garrus was the opposite of insufferable. Shepard would suffer him forever, if she could.

“I promise to give you a heads up. Hell, you’re the Shadow Broker. You’ll probably be listening in.”

Liara smirked. “No comment.” She finished off her drink and motioned to the waiter for another. “I do know for a fact that your next appointment isn’t for forty-five minutes. That gives you enough time to tell me everything about you and Garrus. The whole story, starting from the beginning. I give you permission to skip the parts where neither of you is wearing clothes.”

Shepard, who was feeling just a little bit brave, did just that.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always thought Garrus took the bigger emotional risks in their relationship until they go on their Presidium date and she busts out with the "I love you, Garrus Vakarian." Thought it would be fun to see her build up to that. 
> 
> Also, my headcanon Shepard has really excellent female friends.


End file.
